Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Five basic courses, each one hour of video or about 20 lessons, in HTML, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript and JQuery. All taught by the same instructor, so expect good continuity of style and content between the courses.

Signing up is clumsy simply because you have to enroll in each course separately, but it's a bit less shaggy if you start out by setting up free accounts at both Gizmag.com and StackSkills.com, the course provider. Otherwise, you have to do these things during the course enrollment process.

Now, follow the link provided above. You need to "share" this on FB (nothing's free, right?!) and I just said "Checking this out" or words to that effect. When you've "shared" to FB, the "GET IT" button is activated. Click that, and you'll get a confirmation page. (Sigh.) Click "Redeem Purchases Now", and you'll come to the page where the courses and their corresponding coupon codes are listed.

We're closing in on it!

Now, for each course, follow this Yellow Brick Road:1. Right click in the coupon code box and select "copy". Pay no attention to the "slash/circle" cursor in this box which internationally means "stop" or "access prohibited", so I've no idea why they use it. 2. Click on the link button directly above the coupon code box. You'll be taken to the StackSkills enrollment page for that course.3. Click "Enroll for $29" or whatever it actually says.4. On the next page, pay no attention to the payment information section, which will disappear when you apply the coupon code - you'll never need to enter any credit card info, etc.:a. Click on "Redeem Coupon" and a text box will appear to the left. b. Paste in your coupon code.c. Click "Redeem Coupon" again - the price will be discounted by the full amount and the total will change to FREE.5. On the confirmation page, follow the link to the course.

Rinse and repeat for each course. It's a pain you can't enroll in all as a bundle, but...the price is right.

Friday, September 25, 2015

If you like visiting social media sites like Facebook and Pinterest, and you are looking for a new career this might be the perfect one for you

If you like spending time on social media, Facebook, Pinterest & Twitter, you might be an ideal candidate to become a freelance social media manager.

The job of a social media manager is to promote their clients businesses and services on the various social media networks in a way that engages potential customers. Essentially this means making Facebook & Pinterest posts about the business or product to attract new customers and responding to questions or comments about those posts.

For example, if as a freelance social media manager you sign up a local restaurant as a client, you would likely post photos of the restaurant's daily specials on various Facebook groups. You might also post, under a different Facebook name, a glowing review of your experience at the restaurant or photos of the restaurant staff helping in a community project.

In return for doing this, your restaurant client would pay you a monthly fee - usually starting at $250 and going up - depending on how large the business was.

As a freelance social media manager, you might have four or five clients and spend most of your day creating social media content for them and posting on the various social media sites.

To make your job easier, you would probably use one the social media manager tools like HootSuite, a tool that lets you manage multiple social media identities across multiple social networks from one web-based dashboard.

Starting out, you could use their free solution, and later on if you expanded your business to include more than four clients, you could sign up for the pro version.

DAILY1) Respond to Inbound Social messages.2) Monitor and respond to Brand mentions.3) Create conversations with Brand advocates.4) Find and Engage with potential customers. 5) Research the Social Media Industry.6) Load your Social Editorial Calendar. 7) Post 3-6 times on Twitter.8) Post 1-2 times on Facebook.9) Post 1-2 times to Google +10) Post 1-3 times on Instagram.11) Post 1 time to LinkedIn.12) Study your products and services. 13) Monitor the competition, using Google Alerts and subscribing to their sites.14) Work on a blog post.WEEKLY1) Engage with thought leaders in your niche/industry.2) Engage with marketing partners.3) Discuss tactics with your team.4) Run your social media analytics.5) Encourage sharing through employee advocacy.MONTHLY1) Audit your strategy.2) Attend local events.3) Detox from Social Media.4) Collaborate with other departments.QUARTERLY1) Adjust quarterly goals. 2) Assess key performance indicators. 3) Gauge team capacity and needs. IMMEDIATELY1) Check out how Sprout Social can help you more efficiently tackle your checklist with a free, 30-day trial of your social media management software. You can read more about this infographic at http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/a-complete-checklist-for-social-media-managers-infographic/622615.

After you've built a solid reputation as a social media manager, you could choose to leave the freelance world and seek work for one major client. If you decide to do this, you wouldn't have any problem finding a job.

So if you are looking for a new career, one that you can start from home using just your computer, and you enjoy spending time on social media sites, becoming a social media manager might be right for you.

It's the most common
among all the social media marketing tools out there. Facebook uses the social
graph and activities to target demographics and people, making Facebook Advertising incredibly
awesome. Think about it, any product/service you advertise on Facebook
basically gets put into the hands of the exact person who wants or needs it.
While it's mainly a B2C [Business to Consumer] platform, every fan who has LIKED your page is truly
interested in what you have to offer.

DOWNSIDES & LIMITATIONS

It's not all about you. I know, hard to believe but it's
not. Of course it's extremely important and necessary to share your
products, offers, services or what have you, BUT you also need to prove that
you are en expert in your field. People aren't going to automatically trust
you. You need to build that trust, and doing things like sharing valuable content, news articles,
and information on the latest and greatest technology that's going on in your
industry will prove that your fan base can trust what you say.

HOW to USE FACEBOOK for MARKETING

Facebook is definitely the easiest and most user friendly of
them all. Build your fan base, share your page with friends and family, post
your Facebook link anywhere you can, and give incentives for people to like
your page. Maybe you're giving out a $20 giftcard once you reach 10,000 fans.
People love challenges and we find that techniques like this work
well.

Share valuable content and interact. Do not forget to
INTERACT! This is very important. People love to see that there is a real
person behind your brand. If you don't show your face, people get weary if it's
really you or not. And for all you busy CEO's out there, it doesn't have to be
you posting either. Have someone in the office do the job. Make sure you keep
that Facebook page active, interesting, and never stop engaging!!

Twitter is quick, frequent and has the smartest of the
audiences. With 140 million registered users, twitter is a sea of information
waiting to be read, followed, and re-tweeted.

Twitter also transformes your lengthy blog articles to small
snippets of information. This is great for grabbing people's attention quickly,
driving more people to your blog, then BOOM, new blog subscribers. Easy as that. Hash tags are also a unique twitter
attribute. They're great for search purposes when your looking for people to
follow and also to see what people are tweeting.

DOWNSIDES & LIMITATIONS

Twitter has been at the top of the micro blogging platforms
since 2006 and generates 175 million tweets daily. While it's a great way to
share quick thoughts and generate traffic to your website and offers, there are
also limitations that come with it. Building relationships with followers is
nearly impossible to do. People follow you because they like what you have to
say, they don't always care about your business as a whole. BUT, there's ways
around that.

Choose what you tweet wisely and follow people that have an
interest in you and your business. At IMPACT, we really focus on finding
followers who we know will really benefit from our clients products/services or
even people who we know will share our content. Check out how we built a valuable twitter following for
IMPACT.

HOW to USE TWITTER for MARKETING

Twitter, like all other social media, is great for directing people to your website to generate leads. But you need to have enticing content for people to stop and read yours. People are
normally scrolling through quickly and only clicking the ones that stand out
the most. Make sure when you're constructing your tweets, each one has tags
for searching purposes and a link that is directing your viewers where you want
them to go. Wether it's to your contact page or a coupon your offering, make twitter useful by getting people to
your website.

Twitter marketing have you confused? Contact IMPACT today to
schedule your free consultation and we'll help you develop an effective social
media plan.

LINKEDIN

WHAT MAKES IT UNIQUE?

LinkedIn is definitely different from the rest of
the social media outlets out there for business. Instead of just connecting
with individuals themselves such as clients or customers, you can connect with
other business as a whole. LinkedIn carries a feature that most social media
platforms don't, you can see who views your profile! And it's not like those
silly Facebook apps that everyone clicks at one point in time. This one really
works!

DOWNSIDES & LIMITATIONS

There is a lot less conversation happening on a LinkedIn
page then there is on other social media marketing profiles. One way around
this is to join groups or communities where you can ask questions and engage in
conversations. Take a look at our Client Community page for
a better idea.

HOW to USE LINKEDIN for MARKETING

Stream all your social media profiles to this one page.
Everything from Twitter, Facebook and your blog can stream right to LinkedIn,
making it the home of where all your social media will live. It doesn't get
much easier than that.

Also, utilize that recommendations tool. You can
acuire new business by having your loyal
customers write you a recommendation and spread the word. You can also use
LinkedIn to search for new employees. A LinkedIn profile is basically like an
online resume where you can list your experience, schooling, interests and
more. What better way to find qualified employees?! Look at our company
page to get an idea of what yours may look like.

Many are saying that Google+ is the up-and-coming Facebook. With 250
Million registered users already to date, I may not disagree! Do you have a lot
of different types of people you want to reach out to? From employees and
customers to your CEO and General Manager? Well, this is where Google+ Circles
comes in handy!

With Circles, you can separate your followers into
different groups so when you're making an announcement or just posting your
lastest press release, you can choose who you want to share this information
with! AWESOME! No other Social Media Marketing tools
can really do that. Another unique feature with Google+ is the
"Hangout." Here, you can video chat with up to 10 people at once. Now
everyone can make it to the business meetings, virtually. No excuses!

DOWNSIDES & LIMITATIONS

Word on the street is that small business owners are
getting worried that their website wont be of use if everyone can visit their
Google+ page and get everything they need to know. Well, we can't really argue
this because you never know what the future holds on the internet.

Google+ also lacks some privacy. Unlike most social media
marketing platforms, theres no "request" button for Google+. You
basically just add the page to your circles and you have access to their feed
at all times. Although you have a business and your posting information for
everyone to see, I think we all still like to have a sense of
protection.

HOW to USE GOOGLE+ for MARKETING

Use killer images, make your profile OPEN to search, and use
your Circles wisely. Google+ gives you many areas to use images. Whether you
choose the tiled images or the one to span across the top of your page, choose
the best one you have. After all, it is the first thing someone sees when they
click on your page.

Also, don't forget to add some albums. Even if your company
photos aren't your best ones yet, get them on there. Any photos look better
then none. You can always schedule re-takes later. Since Google is king in the
search world, you NEED to make sure your profile is open to search. If not, no
one will find it and all the time you put into making your page wont count.
Lastly, use your circles wisely. Circles is probably Google+'s best selling
point right now so you really need to use this feature at its fullest. And it's
going to make your life a lot easier when you're sharing content.

Aren't familiar with Google+ and how
to incorporate it into your marketing strategy? Schedule your free consultation with IMPACT and
learn how we can help!

Traffic alone to a site does not mean that your site will produce sales and loyal following, referrals, or other benefits.

You want people calling in with orders and not questions.

Peter Kent claims that there are only two important search engines--Google and Bing. Did not realize that Bing was that important. Yahoo gets search results from Bing. 97% of all searches in North American come from Google & Bing.

SEO field is constantly changing and you've got to keep up.

A utility that lets you look at the html code underlying a web page to see how specific components were created.

You can edit the page, modify it in other words. All major browsers have this built in. Right click and select "Inspect Element" to open up the code.